


Disloyalty For Justice

by Tamarinds (yenni)



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: Aether Foundation, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-25
Updated: 2017-02-25
Packaged: 2018-09-21 10:48:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9545117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yenni/pseuds/Tamarinds
Summary: "This is an ugly place," his mother warns.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This has been in my drafts for too long.

“Gladion?”

The blindingly white room void of any other presence reverberates the voice off its walls spooking the blonde-haired boy standing before the only door that is not gated off. The child looks over his shoulder and sees that it is his mother who calls him from the faintly blue-outlined lift in the center of the room. His eyes threaten to close, suddenly aware of the late hour.

“Honey," she walks towards him with a frightened look, "what are you doing? This is not a place for you.”

“Why?” As soon as the question leaves his mouth, Gladion chastises himself for openly questioning his mother, looking to the floor. She only wants the best for him. He knows this.

“You can battle pokemon.” Her tone becomes stern through quiet tones. “This is for researchers with ugly hobbies. Let's go back to sleep.” He reaches for her hand and her smile calms his worries instantly. “Good.”

He trusts her, serenity filling his senses as he lets her lead him. His mind forgets the reason he dared to explore an area he had never been, the sounds he had somehow been convinced of having something to do with him. Mother presses a button on the controls and three barriers of the triangle-shaped lift rise to zoom the pair up.

 

* * *

 

 _Check the labs_. Gladion’s breath had nearly stopped at Faba's response. 

Gladion almost forgot about the last and only time he went near the labs. He was much younger but he is recalling the dread he felt when his mother found him down there. It seems that he must now take the lift down once more to find Wicke as his mother instructed him to. She was no doubt unaware of Wicke's exact location when she sent him. Initially, he scoured the main floor, an area Wicke was usually found, but she wasn't. Instead of keeping his mother waiting, he asked Faba. Without much thought, The head scientist responds that she is on the lower level. _The labs_.

“Hm?” Comes Faba’s mildly aggressive tone as Gladion stands without saying anything.

Mother never explicitly said he was not allowed there, only that it wasn't _for_ him. “Nothing.” He shakes off the shock and uneasiness he has at the prospect of venturing onto the secretive floor. He breathes. He only has to find Wicke, should not take more than a couple of minutes. “Thanks.”

He turns on his heel to continue the increasingly daunting task of heading to the lift as he hears a snort of arrogance behind him.

 

The lift reaches the lowest floor and Gladion has a moment of déjà vu. The memory is incredibly vivid, he turned to the door to his right, just as he is doing now. With one step, he is the boy who woke up from his sleep because he had a dream about his father and heard—he sucks in a breath— _something_. Something _here_.

The room is full, unlike the last time he was down here and he can hear them yet cannot discern what they are saying, and he does not care to. Their voices blend together as their white clothing camouflages them into the walls. Gladion pays them no mind as he moves and they astonishingly do the same for him. He isn't something they are concerned about. In one long moment, a slow breath, he is in front of the door that separates him from a world he has a desperation to see. He is terrified to go further and his mind supplies the dithering voice of his mother that stopped him that night. He endures the jolt this causes and reaches out his hand as his heart palpitates and his ears ring. It's a violent reaction that lasts less than a second because another sound comes into the forefront, so much clearer than the dreams he would have. A howl that calls to him as a whine.

“Gladion?”

He looks up and is brought back to the image of a doting Wicke standing in the doorway. Her smile soothes his nerves as a hand on his shoulder steps him back.

“Were you looking for me?”

“Yes,” he says, recalling the errand he was sent on, “Mother wants to see you.”

“Oh, is that so? Let’s go see what she needs.” She gently grips his arm as they move to the lift. Gladion, in his shocked state, moves with her as she directs the elevator to return to the main floor. The gates appear to confine the occupants of the lift and he snaps back to another reality.

“Why doesn't Mother want me down here?” He says more to himself and is surprised he voiced this. So is she, by the look on her face.

“There are a number of reasons, but the most important one would be the dangers of,” her face is back to the kind one everyone at Aether is familiar with, but something is different, “unsafe experiments.”

“Experiments?" He looks at the docks they pass by. "On pokemon?” The question comes seemingly out of nowhere, as if his own thoughts weren't responsible for its formulation. He nearly corrects himself, remembering they are Aether, but notices how her face falters ever so slightly. Only someone incredibly close to her would register it as regret. The gates of the lift lower and he briskly leaves the area.

 

* * *

 

Mothe- Lusamine is more distant than she has ever been. Gladion doesn't feel as the prized student he was once heralded as. She has withdrawn her tutelage entirely. He feels pain from the rift, but he learns what independence is almost immediately. His mind has been occupied with the labs and, under this pseudo-freedom, he has been allowed to wonder about it, its secrets to the _cry_ that is going ignored. He has wasted enough time, he decides, and tests his luck as Lusamine calls a meeting leaving only lower level employees at the helm. Gladion is at the lift.

On the bottom floor, Gladion strides past the entrance, leaving no room for emotions. The confidence is short-lived once he stands on the other side of the door. The atmosphere overwhelms him with an uncomfortable sickly aura. It is deathly silent despite people moving around him, working and preoccupied with conversations in serious tones. Slowly, he proceeds along a path that gives the impression of floating above an abyss he never knew Aether was always on, completing a transformation to otherworldly. Then he hears it. The screech that has been calling him for years. Glances to the people around him don't reveal any reactions. They either can't hear it or don't care. He puts those questions aside for now and calms himself to walk—not run—to it. The source could be anywhere, but as he walks to a door, his skin prickles with trepidation and, with an unsteady hand, he opens the door.

The room is the sterile white which Aether is known for. Synonymous for clean and good. He has had his doubts about this image that is touted, recent doubts, but here he now knows what a facade that is. At the other end of the room, is a glass wall, separating this part of the room from  _something_. He walks up to the glass, knitting his brows in concentration and he places a hand to its clean surface. It is much too cloudy and dirty inside, but there is a visible pokemon unlike anything he has ever seen. It’s whining—that same whine, that cry, that pain—but it’s face is covered. It’s apprehensive, on alert, he can see, yet defeated. Through holes on its helmet, Gladion can see its eyes and the slow blinks it gives, the rise and falls of its ribcage, the slow movements of its tail, and then his own reflection on the glass barrier.

This pokemon _is_ the danger, but Gladion can clearly see the pokemon is in danger. Has been in danger for longer than he does not want to think about, but he has to. He breathes and is about to say something when the door swipes open. Swiftly, he dodges out of view and waits, listens.

Type: Null… There are multiple… they are tools, very unique _crafted_ pokemon. Faba is the main conductor of the research under orders from Lusamine to achieve interdimensional battle. Type: Null are failed experiments that must be kept in cryogenically, like this one is about to return to.

The scientists prepare to work directly with the 'specimen', changing into cautionary gear, as Gladion slips out of the room. He now knows what he has needed to know for so long. Type: Null and these labs are not helping pokemon and there is no one, not even Wicke, who can save it. The truth is that Aether Paradise will always be unsafe and he can’t hope for its survival, he needs to actively fight for it or he is as allowing Aether’s actions.

 

* * *

 

There is a darkness behind the eyes of every employee at Aether, including Wicke. The white walls reflecting a fabricated safety that many of them believe exists, repeating the lie that this is a haven. Even the Conservatory seems like a prison now with its barred shadows from the enclosure. Gladion is on the mountainscape of the manufactured biome, holding onto the railing and spots newly hatched Spearow with its mother in a secdluded corner. Nearly silent heeled steps approach until a tall shadow stops, engulfing him. He doesn't turn to confirm their identity.

“Did you try to hide Type: Null?” Gladion asks quietly. 

Wicke does not miss a beat. “No.”

“Do you like what is happening?”

“This is not what the founding President had in mind for any pokemon.”

He doesn't know the reasons why Aether is choosing to undergo these risky projects. There are plenty of reports and findings presented on paper, he is sure, but those aren't the real reasons. And, either way, it does not matter. Aether employees— _his mother_ —is choosing to carry out some of the most harrowing research that will undoubetdly never come to light. “I’m going to save it.”

"The pokemon?"

"Yes."

Gladion hears Wicke shift here, her shadow turning her head before leaning slightly closer to him. “You know I can not leave this post.”

He expected this answer form Wicke. “There needs to be an ounce of morality left here.”

“There is no honor for someone knowingly standing by no matter their intentions.”

She is right. “You feel guilty?”

“As should every Aether employee.”

Wicke knew, Faba knew, Lusamine knew, every other scientist involved knew. Maybe they were convinced there was nothing they could do, but here he is, around a third of their age and he will do this much. He will save Null. “I’m leaving.”

She does not respond for a minute. “I know.”

“Will you stop me? Tell Mother?”

“No. I wish I had your courage, your sense of duty."

“One day you might.” He breathes deep as he faces her, showcasing his resolve. "Take care of Lillie."

She looks at him with somber eyes, but makes no move to express herself. It's dangerous to discuss this as it is. “You know I will. I’ll prepare a bag for you with a contact on Akala Island. I wish you luck.”

 

* * *

 

Gladion didn't have much to go with upon his arrival. It was nearly dawn and his escape with the help of a really shady cargo ship unloaded at a deserted stretch of beach left him with nerves he felt would never settle. As he looks around, taking in the topography and smells he is unfamiliar with, he releases Type: Null from its ball. It’s the first time it is on ground so they share something in common already.

It becomes visibly stressed at the sight of him and heaves from lifetimes of being overworked. “It’s okay," Gladion slowly brings his hands up, a gesture meant to calm, "Null.”

The pokemon jumps at his raised hands and lunges toward him. The mask and force is enough to elicit a cry from the pain in his shoulder. Gladion breathes as if his lungs were just punctured and looks to the pokemon's face. He is going to try as long as he has to.


End file.
